I'm sure I mentioned before, but there are dozens of places to check out in the Hong Kong area. Since we live kind of deep into Kowloon, we don't venture out as often as we should, but we have a short list of places to visit on the weekends that we plan to work on in the next year. One of those is on the south-side of Hong Kong Island, in a little area known as "Stanley". It takes a little ride on the MTR and a sizeable bus-ride to get there, traversing across the island in-between all of the green-covered peaks, but there are some nice beach areas and towns and Stanley is definitely one of them. We took a lazy Saturday and had a lunch and an afternoon stroll along the pier, visiting a couple of temples, and getting lost in the market. All we had heard was that there were a lot of ex-pats and/or tourists there and that it was worth a look.........both turned out to be true.
The pier, where at one time royalty and other dignitaries landed upon arrival to Hong Kong.
View across the bay at Stanley - heck of a beautiful day for November!
Many people still earn a traditional living as fishermen and I thought it was neat seeing the mounds of fishing nets in the little boats.
There are several different religions in China and amongst those, several gods that have temples around the city. This is one of the temples for Tin Hau, which is a goddess that watches over sailors and fishermen. There is some incense burning constantly just outside the door and it's tourist-friendly.
While there are multiple figurines of different people or gods, the central figure here is Tin Hau. It is common to see fruit that is left as an offering for the gods. Needless to say, Tin Hau won't be catching scurvy any time soon!
While not preserved very well (mangy might be a better word), this tiger skin has been kept in the temple for years after it was shot and killed just outside the temple. During the bombing of Hong Kong during WWII several bombs hit the temple yet didn't explode. They say that the tiger skin kept the temple safe, so here it will remain until fruit flies finish it off.
Larger view of the whole room, with some of the other gods hanging out - showing off their fruit collection.
We liked the design on the front doors. The first line of defense is the tiger skin, and if you make it past that then you have to deal with the warrior doorkeepers, and if you somehow get through them.........banana peels!
View from under the pier.
Not much else to say about that, but Stanley was a fun little destination for an afternoon. It's great for a little lunch and market parousing if you fancy that.
--Justin
